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Nandigram fury singes Kolkata, army called 22 Nov 2007, 0123 hrs IST , TNN
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KOLKATA:
After days of processions and protests against the CPM-led violence in Nandigram
choked Kolkata, the city was convulsed by rioting on Wednesday when mobs
appeared in the heart of the city, attacking police with bricks and molotov
cocktails, burning cars and damaging property. Realizing that things had gone
beyond police control, the state administration called in the army, the first
time it had done since riots that followed the 1992 Babri Masjid
demolition.
Also for the first
time, soldiers armed with assault rifles struggled to keep mobs at bay. Seven
vehicles were burned in Topsia even after the army was deployed. Seeing the
situation get out of hand, the administration imposed a curfew in parts of
central Kolkata from 10pm till 6am. At least 36 people were injured, including
some senior police
officers.
The decision to call
in the army was surprising since Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s government had
rejected calls to deploy soldiers in Nandigram throughout the 11-month-long
violence.
The scale of violence
on Wednesday was unprecedented. What started as a road blockade by 100-odd
supporters of All India Minority Forum, ostensibly against allowing exiled
Bangladesh author Taslima Nasreen to stay in India, quickly turned into a
fireball that engulfed large swathes of east and central Kolkata, including Park
Circus, Park Street and AJC Bose Road during the rush hour. The protesters
carried placards demanding Nasreen’s expulsion, but the rage over
Nandigram boiled over.
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